Why and how is the identity …

1)  Artists represented a country as a person and hence, nations were portrayed as female figures. The female form that was chosen to personify the nation did not stand for any particular woman in real life that is, female figure became an allegory of the nation.
2)  During French Revolution artists used female allegory to portray ideas of Liberty, Justice and Republic. These ideals were represented through specific objects or symbols.
3)  For example, the attributes of Liberty are the red cap, or broken chain, while Justice is generally a blindfolded woman carrying a pair of weighing scales.
4)  In India, it was believed that nationalism spreads when people begin to believe that they are all part of a nation. The identity of a nation is most often symbolised in a figure or image.
5)  This helps create an image with which people can identify the nation. It was in 20th  century with the growth of nationalism that the identity of India became to be visually associated with the image of Bharat Mata.